Exploring new tools to add to my toolbox

Minor Derailment Due To Infrastructure

One of the reasons I put Node.js education on hold and started with Ruby on Rails is because of my existing account at Dreamhost. Their least expensive shared hosting plan does not support Node.js applications. It does support Ruby on Rails, PHP, and a few others, so I started learning about Ruby on Rails instead.

The officially supported version of Ruby (and associated Ruby on Rails) is very old, but their customer support wiki assured me it could be updated via RVM. However, it wasn’t until I paid money and got into the control panel did I learn RVM is not supported on their shared hosting plan.

At this point I feel like the victim of a bait-and-switch…

So if I want to work with a non-ancient version of Ruby on Rails (and I do) I must upgrade to a different plan. Their dedicated server option is out of the question due to expense, so it’s a choice between their managed Virtual Private Server option or a raw virtual machine via DreamCompute.

In either case, I didn’t need to pause my study of Node.js because it’d work on these more expensive plans. Still, Ruby is a much more pleasant language than JavaScript. And Rails is a much better integrated stack than the free-wheeling Node.js. So it wasn’t all loss.

Before I plunk down more money, though, I think I should look into PHP. It was one of the alternatives to Ruby when I learned NodeJS wasn’t supported on Dreamhost shared hosting. It is the server-side technology available to Dreamhost shared hosting, fully managed and kept up to date. Or at least I think it is! Maybe I’ll learn differently as I get into it… again.

Dreamhost offers a 97-day satisfaction guarantee. I can probably use that to get off of shared hosting and move on to VPS. It’s also a chance find out if their customer service department is any good.

UPDATE 1: Dreamhost allowed me to cancel my hosting plan and refunded my money, zero fuss. Two clicks on the web control panel (plus two more to confirm) and the refund was done. This is pretty fantastic.

UPDATE 2: I found Heroku, a PaaS service that caters to developers working in Rails and other related web technologies. (It started with Ruby on Rails then expanded from there.) For trial and experimentation purposes, there is a free tier of Heroku I can use, and I shall.